And the Wolf Howls for Luna
by Baran3
Summary: Another of my avatars, Silver, the Wolf of the Moon is entrusted with the duty to protect young girls. One of his charges from the Noble Family Soria Academy is boarding a passenger vessel.
1. Prelude

**AND THE WOLF HOWL****S FOR LUNA**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Silver.

Notes: I am introducing another of my avatars in the anime "Uninhabited Planet Survive". Silver is another of my self-inserting characters like Baran or Iridia. However, Silver is not a human, but a wolf with a rather strange background. I hope you'll like this story.

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**Prologue**

"_Our Message."_

_Sung by Kiroro._

_Lyrics & music by Tamashiro Chiharu._

_If this sky, and this wind and these colours were to disappear,_

_What would… What would happen to us?_

_I hope this sea, this planet, this dream, and this time aren't interrupted._

_We're setting off, so I have no time to worry_

_We're facing the future that stretches on forever._

_I broke out running that day in my bare feet_

_I want to believe in these unchanging loves._

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In the 21st century, Mankind successfully implemented Anti-gravity and Warp navigation, and embarked on full-blown space development.

In the hundred years since then, wonderful growth was achieved.

In the 22nd century, people live in colonies, and more than 30 artificial planets have been built in space.

But why such an achievement?

At the beginning of the 21st century, Earth experienced many problems. Depletion of the Ozone Layer, air pollution, and the Greenhouse effect added up to abnormal weather and in the middle of the 21st century, a large-scale change in the Earth's crust occurred and Earth underwent a destructive change which made it uninhabitable for humans.

So Mankind flew away from that disaster, and embarked on space development.

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And I appeared, howling.

I am Silver, the Wolf of the Moon.

As my name hinted, I am a male silvered wolf of 6 feet long for 70 pounds of weight with luminous green eyes.

My origin is lost in the sea of Time. As far as I can say I have always been there since the Moon orbit around Earth.

Each time there is a full moon on Earth, I could appear in some location across the Universe.

Yes. Although I come from Earth, my mission has taken me to many strange places, some even not in the same galaxy as my home planet.

My mission is to protect.

More specifically, I am always the protector of a girl.

No matter her race, her social class and her appearance, I am here to protect a female child whose age vary between the toddler stage up to just short of a young adult.

For this girl, I am bodyguard, mentor, friend, confidant and/or parental figure until she can live on without my help. I am not always successful, and those failures gnawed at my heart, if only I could clearly remember them.

The forces around my mission are mystical in nature. Due to this I am a blend of physical power, psionic abilities and plain magical might. It is also the reason why my memory is almost completely wiped out after a mission, just before I appeared again somewhere near my protégée.

And such is my curse. The memory of my charges is reduced to some half-remembered names, fleeting pictures of smiling or scowling faces, traces of deep emotions, wisps of tears and echoes of laughter.

Sometimes, Fate and Destiny send me to protect a girl who is actually the daughter or a direct descendant of one of my precedent charges, and for a time, my joy and/or sorrow double as I renew my relationship with a lost piece of my past.

But I always must depart at some point.

I think that without the memory wipe, I would have succumbed to insanity after an eternity of duty.

And so here I am, howling in the night.

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The whole colony of Roca A2, built on a moon of Saturn, seemed to shudder as the haunting howl ran through the domes. For those people, who had abandoned their world, the howl of a wolf brought back atavistic responses built into their DNA. This night, some people checked around fearfully and closed tightly their homes. Some dreamed of old Earth and many women smiled mysteriously in their sleep, somehow soothed by the fierce sound.

However eight persons reacted more strongly to it.

In her small apartment, a young girl blinked and stopped packing for the school trip tomorrow. She gazed through her window, searching for the origin of this sound that seemed to penetrate to her soul and made her so... She couldn't even name what she was feeling.

She was a fourteen years old Caucasian girl with determined bright blue eyes, red-orange hair and a ready smile. Luna grew up with her father on Mars. When her father died in an accident, she studied hard and won a scholarship from the Howard Foundation. She then moved to this colony along with her pet robot cat Chako.

Small, cute and feline with pink fur and pink-red eyes, Chako was a cartoon-like robotic female cat that had been abandoned by her old owner and left for scrap. She was about to be thrown into a smelter when Luna's dad rescued her and rebuilt her to give to Luna as a present to compensate for the tragic loss of her mother. Since their relocation, she had helped Luna as best as she could, using her knowledge and a rather pointed sense of humour. For once, even her experience couldn't analyze what her circuits were…feeling. How such a sound could affect so much her functioning?

Sharla was a rather shy girl who Luna became friends with when she transferred into the Noble Family Soria Academy. She was a small girl with light brown hair and deep green eyes under glasses. She was also a fantasy-dreamer and the sound of a wolf howling made her gasped in awe and her eyes sparkled although there was a hidden uneasiness.

Menori, class president of the Noble Family Soria Academy and daughter of a high-ranked figure within the Space Commonwealth Parliament stopped playing her violin. The haunting feral song had cut through the blue-haired girl's cold and insensitive shell and even her passion for music couldn't protect her suddenly exposed heart. Two tears fell from her lavender eyes before she angrily wiped them. What was outside that could bring out her emotions so suddenly?

Howard, the blond green-eyed son of a wealthy company owner was startled by the sound. He was a loud, spoiled, cowardly and selfish boy that thought he could do almost anything because the Howard Foundation was very wealthy. But even knowing about the security of the family mansion and the reach of his father, couldn't protect him of the irrational fear that seized him when the howl rippled through the Howard property. He abandoned his thinking about his late defeat at the hands of Luna and her comrades and promptly took refuge under the sheets of his bed, shivering.

A tall boy gazed through the night. Bell was a brown-haired black-eyed kind boy. Even if he was pressured into doing whatever Howard asked because his father works for Howard's father and Howard regularly threatened to have his father fire Bell's father, he was smiling and feeling a large weight had disappeared from his heart. This anachronistic sound was welcomed and he felt that some good things were going to happen. Especially, he remembered fondly the determination and the kind smile of Luna when she stood up for him against Howard and won.

Kaoru paused through his martial arts katas. The quiet and reserved black-haired youth turned his hazel eyes into the night of the colony and searched a long time for the origin of the strange animal-like sound. It was funny, but the "Lone Wolf" of the Noble Family Soria Academy didn't identify the author of the howl although, deeply inside, he felt some sort of kinship.

Shingo wrongly identified the sound as a dog howl from a previously unknown model of pet robot. The brown-haired twelve years old boy was a genius that jumped two classes into Luna's class. However, he thought it was a model of robotic pet like those he repaired and his dark-brown eyes sparkled as he searched the network for information for this unknown model. His parents forced him to stop since they wanted him well-rested fro the school trip tomorrow.

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"It's her."

Silver gazed upon the group of seven students walking through the spaceport to gate their transport ship for the school trip to the Jupiter-2 satellite.

The wolf has disguised himself as a German Bloodhound to pass discretely among the people. Many times he had been forced to use his mental power to pass himself as the pet of people entering the port. His powers enabled him to influence the humans, but there was little he could do against the technological control devices and they were many. At least, not without drawing too much attention on him.

He frowned. Even robotic pets weren't allowed without a master and an electronic identifier. Time to use higher-level powers. He reached for the Mana surging within is core, his soul and weaved it into a complex matrix. Air rippled around him as his image distorted and suddenly he wasn't there…in appearance.

An invisible wolf disguised as a dog quietly and discretely boarded the space-vessel.

The interior reminded him of the 20th century large passenger planes like Boeing and Airbus models. He found a remote corner too small for a human and squeezed himself in it and then he observed the dynamics of the group where his charge was.

He smothered his chuckles when Luna had the surprise to found that her pet Chako got onto the field trip space ship by sneaking her way aboard hidden in Luna's leather backpack. He smiled when he saw the friendship blooming between Sharla and Luna and the tentative of the red-haired girl to open up to the other members of her group. He shook his head when Shingo tried to visit the Reactor room and was firmly kept out by the personnel. He appreciated the steel within Menori when she confronted Howard and his cronies trying to enter the entertainment area before its opening.

His stomach then reminded him that he hasn't eaten since his arrival and some passengers searched for the origin of the sound. It was fortunate that his fur and invisibility prevented anyone to saw his blushing. He decided to follow Shingo, Sharla and Luna to try to pick out a few snacks.

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Sharla sighed as she drank a lavender lemonade. "Our group is definitely the worst."

Luna nodded. "That's it! They put all the problem children in one pack." Silver almost spat out the hot-dog he snatched from a passenger at that.

Sharla blinked. "Why would they do something like that?"

Shingo smiled. "If you put them in one group, and add Menori, the school will have an easier time managing them."

Sharla thought about it. "I see…" She then gasped and pointed to her. "Hold on! Does that mean I'm a problem child too?"

Luna nodded with a serious face. "Naturally." She held it a few seconds before bursting into laugh as Sharla mock-fought her.

Silver held his laugh as he continued to eat his treat, when suddenly his sixth sense blared a warning of imminent danger for him and his charge.

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The ship rocked as a gravity storm hit it. The crew didn't detect it as it seemed to have appeared suddenly in the rear arc of the vessel. The computer proved to be unable to calculate an emergency course correction to avoid it: The only course to avoid it was to perform an emergency warp manoeuvre.

Following the instructions of the crew, the passengers boarded the escape shuttles. The group of Menori calmly entered their assigned shuttle, unaware that an invisible wolf was following them.

The Lunar Wolf smiled as she witnessed the comportment of Howard and Shingo. The first was playing with the non-functioning control stick and the latter was admiring the control panels.

Luna and Menori scowled them as the ship rocked again as a gravity wave hit it. A hand pressed accidentally the Emergency Separation button and even Silver was too occupied with the movement of the vessel to have noticed it.

As the preparations for the emergency warp jump continued, Silver could only shake his head in front of the stupidity of Howard. He was a sheltered selfish boy that had really no idea of the reality. Unfortunately, his sixth sense continued also to tingle dangerously. Howard might learn sooner than he thought that not everything could be altered by the money of a rich parent.

The situation was serious. Silver gained the rear of the shuttle as the children buckled their seat-belts and dropped his disguise and invisibility, hidden by the seats. He feared he would need his full power in a few minutes.

The countdown for the warp clocked on, but three seconds before it happened, the sequence of emergency separation of the escape shuttle reached its course and the shuttle ejected.

Luna was preparing herself for the sensations of a warp-jump, but it wasn't happening. She opened her eyes and gasped in dismay as she saw that the shuttle was in the vacuum and within the edge of the gravity storm.

Menori, Shingo and Luna gained the cockpit and could only acknowledge that their ship was gone and that they were still in the storm. The attraction augmented and pulled the shuttle in.

It was time to act. Sensing that the shuttle couldn't support for long such an intense unstable gravity field, Silver planted his claws in the floor to anchor himself and called upon his power. A blue wave of light gathered around him and spread through the shuttle, reaching outside and a solid bubble of magical energy snapped into place. The children all gasped at this phenomena and gazed at the rear of the shuttle. Bell could see the origin of the blue light, but he was speechless as he stared as the glowing dog-like creature.

Shingo was awed by what he saw by the cockpit window. "I don't believe it! There's an actual force-field around our shuttle! But this kind of equipment exists only at the experimental level?"

While Silver could protect the shuttle and the passengers from most of the stresses generated by the Gravity Storm, he couldn't change the vectors. The shuttle began to spin on itself and the children found themselves too occupied at maintaining their position against the G-forces to think about the strange creature that revealed itself in their shuttle.

The shuttle disappeared in the maw of the gravity storm and circuits began to fail and explode as the force-field couldn't deflect all the energy discharges hitting the shuttle.

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Notes: I discovered recently the anime "Uninhabited Planet Survive" and fell in love with it. I hope I didn't make too many errors.

Read and review, please.


	2. Earthlings on a Real Planet

**AND THE WOLF HOWL****S FOR LUNA**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Silver.

Notes: For the most part, "Uninhabited Planet Survive" follows the novel of Jules Verne "Two Years of Vacation". My own fan fiction "Return to the Lost Island" shows that someone can survive on a desert island IF she had BOTH skill, will and some basic materials. This is especially true when dealing with a so-called "modern" person.

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**Chap 1: Earthlings on a Real Planet.**

The escape shuttle of our friends suddenly appeared somewhere else through a portal generated by the intense Gravity Storm.

Silver, the Wolf of the Moon, actually felt the shifting through space and time and sighed in relief. The passengers would have survived the spatial transition, but the shuttle would have been damaged too much if he didn't create a mystical bubble of force around it.

He dispelled the protective field and sat to wait for the passengers to deal with the situation without him increasing their burden. Starting to "speak" with them could only stress them more and make the situation more dangerous.

When she felt the rocking ceased, Luna immediately ensured that everyone was okay. The red-haired teenager sighed in relief when everyone answered her. Although curious about the lightshow that surrounded the shuttle, she first must check about their situation. And first, where was the Gravity Storm?

She used her eyes as Shingo checked the instrumentation of the shuttle panel. The young genius was relieved to see that most of the panel was still functioning, although quite a few systems were showing the red of non-functioning and the orange of damaged status.

Both of them couldn't see or detect the Gravity Storm in vicinity.

Reassured that no danger was imminent, the children less one gathered near the cockpit to try to understand the situation.

They were stranded aboard an escape shuttle with their passenger vessel having left them behind. The loud blond Howard immediately started to accuse Shingo to have touched something that created the whole problem. Shingo returned the accusation since Howard also had touched many of the controls.

Meanwhile, Kaoru was standing in a defensive position in the rear and staring to Silver. The Wolf was sitting unmoving since he didn't want to provoke any hostile reaction.

Menori, the leader of their group turned to Shingo, who she knew have vast technical knowledge. "Shingo, can you figure out where the shuttle is?"

The boy nodded and activated a few controls, wincing as more damage report cropped on the shuttle screen. "Well… We still have sensors, but… Our navigation platform is completely shutdown and… Damn! I can't get a fix on our position."

Luna nodded. "First off, we should turn on the rescue beacon."

The brown-haired youth activated other controls and sighed in frustration. "It seemed that most of our transmission systems are out of order. I can't even receive a single channel or a navigation beacon." He blinked. "Ah AH! We have a working computer!" He pressed a button.

An upper panel activated and a synthetic female voice spoke. "I am the computer installed in this craft, M-17."

Unfortunately, it couldn't either determine their position or send the emergency beacon. The machine didn't seem to listen to the frustrations of the passengers, but calmly announced that the craft would momentarily enter a planet's gravity well.

Interiorly, Silver frowned. A planet? Nearby?

At that bit of information, Kaoru relaxed his guard, having deemed Silver as non-hostile for now. The children looked out from the windows and gazed at a blue with white clouds planet.

Luna blinked. It looked so much like… "Earth?"

Menori frowned. "Impossible."

Shingo nodded. "Yeah, Earth already stopped being a blue planet."

Luna narrowed her blue eyes. "Then what planet is that?"

The group started to speculate when Chako finally had enough and burst out of Luna's leather backpack. She then started to berate her owner.

Luna grabbed the pink robotic cat and presented her to her confused comrades.

Howard then started to rant loudly and simply accused Luna and the presence of her robotic pet to be responsible of their situation.

The rest of the group waved away the completely ridiculous accusation.

Kaoru snorted at the loud boy. "As usual, you're a barking dog."

Howard snarled. "Then what about THAT!" He pointed to Silver who hadn't move since the beginning. "You're telling me that its lightshow is not what provoked all this!"

Kaoru snorted again in contempt. "It was well after the ejection that HE acted." He turned again to the window. "More importantly, is it okay to be getting so close to the planet?"

True, the planet was rapidly growing in size. The computer spoke again. "This craft is beginning its approach to land on the planet. We will enter the atmosphere momentarily. All passengers, please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts. Now landing under autopilot control."

The children were perplexed, but started to regain their places when the computer alarm sounded again. "State of emergency entered. Due to the damage to the ship, activation of autopilot is impossible. Reserve systems cannot be activated."

Menori's lavender eyes widened. "What are we going to do once we enter the atmosphere?"

M-17 answer was to the point. "A passenger must pilot manually this craft."

"HEEEYYYY!!!!"

Shingo frenetically activated the controls. "Not good! We have instrumentations, but we need the autopilot expert system to calculate the correct speed and angle for the entry!"

Luna gulped. "At this rate, we'll be destroyed by the atmosphere. And the computer…" She gasped. "AH! CHAKO!"

The pink cat-girl smiled from her position in the co-pilot seat. "You finally remembered I'm here." She approached the shuttle panels and started to assess damage. "Some gauges're busted… Hum…" She turned to the rear. "Hey you there!" The group turned to the silver-furred animal in the back. "Mind helping a fellow pet?"

Silver slowly get up and walked to the cockpit. It was the moment of truth. "_Sorry, but I can't link with machines. I can help, but not for this._"

It was always a trying time when he spoke for the first time with his Telepathic Transmission or Mental Speech. His voice gained strange and eerie tones and few remarked at first that it bypassed the ears and sounded directly in the brain of the interlocutor. It was however more practical than a normal voice since it doesn't depend on the ambient medium and could be restrained to one person or extended to anyone in range.

Chako blinked. "Ah well, it'll work out somehow." Chako extended her Interface Rod and inserted it into the computer Main Port. After a few seconds of angst, most of the panels and controls reactivated to green condition. Chako smiled with the children. "Guidance calculations okay. Entry angle calculated." She frowned. "Autopilot is impossible after all." She turned to her mistress. "Luna, take the helm."

Howard reacted. "Wait! How do we know you…!" He was cut off by the hand of Menori.

The long blue-haired girl looked at her fellow comrade in the pilot seat. "Luna, do you have experience?"

Luna looked back. "It's my first atmospheric entry…" The memory of the accident when her father died flashed through her mind. Especially the part where her father threw her into the last individual escape capsule with Chako. "…but I have piloted an escape capsule before."

It was good news for Menori, but… "Can you do it?"

Kaoru spoke the truth and to the point. "We have no choice but to let her try."

The group approved with the exception of Howard and regained their seats to prepare for the atmospheric entry.

Chako continued her sensors checking and turned to the tall, and as a girl she also thought handsome, silver animal. "So, what's your name?"

The Lunar Wolf was focusing on their destination and the shuttle around them. "_Silver._"

"Silver, huh? I hope you don't have the whole dog-running-after-cat thing in your programs?"

Silver smirked. "_I'm a wolf._"

Despite the situation, everybody blinked at that. A wolf?

The shuttle continued its descent to the planet. Chako turned to Luna and proceeded to guide her through the entry manoeuvres. "First off, you hafta point the ship straight. Press the left button on the lever and the jet propulsion switches will come out…"

Silver let Chako and Luna at their tasks and focused his senses on the shuttle. Good, his force field had maintained most of the structural integrity intact.

"…Close the heat-resistant shutters. It's the bottom right lever."

"Roger."

"There should be some switches line up at your upper left. Those operate the interior cooling system."

"These?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately, it has been damaged, but we should be good."

"_I can help with that._" Chako blinked to Silver. The wolf opened his jaw and began to emit a cooling mist. The internal temperature dropped rapidly.

The internal lights turned red, signalling the imminent atmospheric entry. The shuttle touched the upper atmospheric layers and flames appeared.

Silver's green eyes glowed. "_We're entering atmosphere._"

Chako nodded. "Outer wall temperature rising." She smiled. "You're nicely compensating for the damaged cooling system." She turned to Luna. "That's all we can do. From here on we leave it in the hands of Fate."

Silver wasn't too worried. "_Structural integrity is still good. We're going to make it._"

Despite the reassuring words, everybody braced themselves as the vibrations of entry augmented.

And suddenly, the vibrations ceased and the lights returned to normal. Chako sighed in relief. "Airspeed good. Altitude 25,000. Luna, we made it through."

"Really?"

"Open the front shutter."

Luna blinked at the sight. "Are those…clouds?"

"Yep. Real clouds."

"I guess we succeeded."

"_We're not out of danger yet. We still have the landing to negotiate._" Silver was still focusing his mystic and psionic senses on the exterior. "_Set the nose back, so we don't lose too much speed._"

"Roger."

The shuttle entered the clouds and a natural storm greeted them. Luna winced at the loud sound and bright light. "What is this?"

Silver blinked. He did forget that none of those children has set foot in an earth-like natural environment before. "_A lightning bolt. A high-intensity electrical discharge in the atmosphere._"

Chako was impressed. "Wow. It's my first time seein' the real thing too."

Suddenly a bolt hit the shuttle, damaging the roof, overloading electronic circuits and lit a small fire.

"_Damn…! Okay…! Control surfaces and direction systems are intact. We're still good for landing!_"

Heavy rain hammered the front cockpit. "After the lightin' comes the rain."

Luna stayed focused. "What should I do?"

Silver extended his senses down and smiled. "_We're at the vertical of a sea. You should be able to see the water now._"

Another lightning bolt illuminated the exterior and Luna saw the waves of the sea under the trajectory of the shuttle. "Yes. I can see the ocean."

"_Good landing on water is easier than a ground landing. Less troubles with the terrain features. Raise the nose so that we skim on the surface of the waves to reduce our speed._"

"Roger! I'll give it a try."

The shuttle curved her trajectory and began to skim like a flat pebble at the surface of the water. The waves promptly extinguished the little fire depart. Inside, everyone experienced the tremors of the aquatic landing.

Silver's eyes widened then narrowed. "_Damn! Reefs!_" He turned to the children. "_Everyone! Brace for impact!_"

The shuttle raked against some emerging rocks and finally stopped abruptly on a raised clump of stone. The shock proved too much for the children who loose consciousness.

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It was the sensation of a wet but warm tongue licking her cheek that awakened Luna. She opened her blue eyes to gaze into two pairs of green and red-pink eyes.

Chako was riding the head of Silver and smiling to her mistress. "Luna… Are you awake yet?"

Still groggy, Luna blinked. "Chako… Silver…" She then remembered everything. "Ah! How's everyone?!"

"Don't worry. Silver already checked it. There're safe. At worst, some superficial bruising."

"_We let them sleep to recuperate until we have enough light._"

Luna smiled in relief. "Everyone, wake up!"

The children roused themselves and celebrated the fact that they were still alive. They gathered to admire the view from the front window.

Sharla almost forget to breathe. "The sea?"

Shingo looked up. "The clouds are moving." He blinked as he saw the source of the light around here. "It's the sun."

Luna looked to all this. "I wonder where this is."

Shingo was bewildered. "That sun's the real thing, right?"

Howard snorted. "It's obviously a man-made sun."

Silver laughed. "_Ah! Ah! Ah! I forgot that you were all born inside a colony. No, children. Everything you see. Those clouds and the sea are completely natural. What you are feeling is the real thing._"

Luna was awed. "It's the first time I've felt this. It's warm and soft and gives me a happy feeling."

Bell nodded. "It's true."

Howard was still sceptic but couldn't deny what he was seeing and feeling. "If you're saying that's the real sun, then this is Earth after all?"

Silver shook his head. "_No. We're on an earth-like planet, not your Earth._"

Chako shrugged. "I can't confirm anythin', but the atmosphere's composition seems to be like Earth's."

The group turned to the robotic pet. "Hey?"

All colonists received training about the dangers in an artificial made environment and Sharla's training kicked in. "Come to think of it, we've been breathing this last while, but…"

Howard smirked. "The shuttle's systems are supplying us with Oxygen, right?"

"_No, they aren't. Between the Gravity Storm, the atmospheric entry, the lightning bolt and the landing, all those systems are down._"

The whole group goggled at Silver. "HHHEEYYYY!?"

Chako looked at them with lidded eyes. "What are you getting' all surprised about now? We've been breathin' this planet's atmosphere for a while. Lookee here!" Chako pointed to a gap between the roof hatch and the hull. The light of the sun and a few drops of water leaked through the small breach.

Luna turned to her best friend. "Is the air's composition okay?"

Chako nodded. "It doesn't have anythin' toxic. The amount of Carbon Dioxide is five times normal, but don't worry. That's well within your tolerance. The seawater is okay, too."

Menori looked at the two animals. "Can we send out the rescue beacon?"

Silver sighed. "_Already tested. We can't. The whole electronic system is completely busted. It'll take time and skill to repair something workable._"

The children were worried that there was nothing they could do except wait for the rescue. The crew of the passenger vessel must have noticed their absence and alarmed the proper authorities. Howard wasn't very keen on hanging out on a strange planet until help came. Luna however decided to open the hatch and saw how things looked outside.

The red-haired girl felt the first real wind on her skin and laughed. "The wind feels nice!"

Chako was looking with all the power she can muster to this task. "It seems like a real world."

Luna nodded. "A real sun, the real sea, real clouds, and the real wind."

Silver jumped through the hatch, took a few steps on the roof and turned, chuckling, to the blue-eyed teenager. "_Yes, yes! It's the real thing. Welcome to a real and natural environment where earth life can bloom!_" The Lunar Wolf then smiled as he witnessed the children looking for the first time at a non man-made environment. He blinked as his sight went beyond them and pointed with his paw. "_Well…! It seems that Lady Luck was with us. Look there!_"

The children looked behind the raised hatch to gaze upon a nearby coast with a big cliff, a long beach and the green of a dense forest.

Luna's eyes widened. "It's land."

The whole group exited the hatch and looked upon the Promised Land, rejoicing that it was nearby. The foliage spoke about water and animal presence.

Howard considered the distance between the shuttle and the land. "Can we swim there?"

Menori shot down the idea. "It's dangerous, and furthermore, far."

Silver nodded. "_She's right. At best, you're indoor pool swimmers. An ocean and its waves and currents is another matter altogether._"

Shingo had an idea. "Oh yeah! Maybe there's some equipment in the shuttle!"

The children began to look around and opened everything in the shuttle, searching for the Emergency Supplies.

Shingo found the inflatable boat and its collapsing oars. Howard's eyes shone as he found a laser gun. Luna showed them the survival knife and a mini-light she discovered. Menori smiled interiorly at the sewing set and a full cardboard with the Emergency Rations and bottles of mineral water.

Silver blinked at what they gathered and even Howard echoed his incredulous comment. "_That's all?_" The wolf shook his head. "_This shuttle mustn't have been refurbished for quite a time. This is hardly enough for the standard complement of this type of escape vessel and many proper elements are simply missing._"

Menori was, for once, of the same advice as Howard, but they hadn't the choice. "Let's distribute them among us. One for each person. We don't know when we'll be able to refill them. Everyone manage their own eating and drinking. We'll save the rest for later."

Howard snorted and opened his bottle of water. "Don't talk so miserly. There's sure to be something when we reach shore."

Silver narrowed his green eyes. "_No!_" He stated firmly, drawing the attention of the whole group. "_We can't afford to think like that. No one knows for sure where we are. That's mean at the very least WEEKS before rescue is envisageable. We must proceed as if all we have for a long time is only what we have presently._"

Howard's fear was redirected to his anger. "Shut up! You're a pet! I don't have to listen to you! In fact, you have to obey me and I say there is something at shore!"

Luna frowned. "Silver is right. We don't know for certain."

Howard snarled. Menori turned to Silver. "That's reminded me. I know none of us are your masters, but would you accept our orders during this situation until we are rescued?"

Silver turned to the lavender-eyed girl. The children still wrongly considered him as a robotic pet despite that he didn't confirm or infirm it. "_Don't worry, Menori. My main duty is to protect. So, I swear to you all that I will protect all of you without any exception._" He smirked at Chako. "_Yes, even you._" He turned glowing green eyes to Howard who almost drank the wrong way. "_However, I will LISTEN to your orders only if they aren't stupid or if they don't endanger yourself or another. Understood?_"

Ignoring the sputtering blond boy, Menori nodded. "Good. I was worried if we find a dangerous animal."

Howard smiled and showed the weapon he appropriated. "If it happens, I'll use this."

Menori felt more worried as she saw how Howard was holding the laser gun. "You can use it?"

"Papa took me hunting lots of times." Silver blinked at that. Hunting? In an artificial colony?

Chako was less enthusiastic. "By hunting, you mean shooting at special animal robots, right? If you ask me, that's a dangerous hobby."

Silver rolled up his eyes. Animal robots? Give me a break!

Howard played his mask of arrogance. "It's something nobles have a taste for." He smirked. "I even hunted wolves."

Kaoru hid his contempt. "After all, it's just a game."

Silver nodded as Howard screamed his wounded pride. "_Those robots were hardly the real thing. You can't program realistically animal behaviours and I bet that those robots have securities built-in in order to not accidentally hurt the hunters, right?_"

Luna intervened. "Stop this!" She whirled to Howard. "And you! Stop agitating something so dangerous!"

Howard snorted as he looked upon his weapon. "I'll show you my skills sometimes soon.

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The children exited the shuttle and prepared the boat for the travel. Luna was worried for Howard as she prepared the oar. "Are you really going alone?"

Howard was adjusting his belt with the knife and the laser gun, looking the part of the intrepid exploratory. "Yeah, just me will be plenty."

Menori finished her oar. "I'll go with you."

"I don't need you."

"I'll be faster with two."

"_And more prudent. Never travel alone in an unknown environment._" He smirked. "_Or are you planning to row by yourself?_" Silver looked at Menori as Howard grumbled he didn't need the help of a girl. "_Do you want me to accompany you?_"

Menori shook her head. "No. I prefer that you stay here and protect the rest of the group. After all, we are taking the only weapons we have."

Bell activated the inflatable gas-capsule and threw the boat on the water, securing it with a rope.

Howard smiled. It was time for him to star. "Alright." He climbed aboard and almost fell in the water since; of course, the boat wasn't very stable on live water. "Hold it still, Bell!"

Silver sighed and put a paw on his muzzle at the antics of the green-eyed would-be adventurer. Shingo and Sharla were also very sceptical about his abilities.

Menori took the oars from Luna and looked at the teenager. "Luna, I'm leaving the rest to you." Of all, she acknowledged her as the most responsible.

Luna nodded. "Be careful."

The raft was launched and the two children began to row to the distant shore.

Chako smiled at her mistress. "Luna. We're depending on you." Luna blinked. "While Menori ain't here, everyone's countin' on you to protect us. Keep your head clear." Luna saw the approving nod of the silvery wolf and smiled affirmatively.

Meanwhile, Menori and Howard were discovering the joys of rowing. Even the sea participated by throwing some surprise waves.

The rest of the group surveyed the progression of their comrades. They hissed as they saw them dancing on the waves.

"_It's alright. It's just the surf. An interface between the deep sea and the shallower plane near a shore. The presence of a shallow depth creates those waves. Once they crossed it, they're good._"

Luna took a deep breath and started to encourage the two scouts, followed by the rest of the group. However Kaoru's attention was drawn by something in the water. He climbed up the shuttle to take a better view, warning Silver that something was happening.

Bell blinked as he saw the wolf rejoining Kaoru and frowned as their identical worried faces. He warned Luna that something was up.

Both the martial artist and the Wolf of the Moon saw the shadows of sinuous and big creatures swimming under the water. "_Damn it!_"

Luna rejoined them. "What's going on?"

Kaoru turned to her. "Let's call them back." He then pointed to the weird creatures going after the boat.

The group tried to warn them, but the sound of the surf drowned their shouts. Silver jumped down on the wing of the shuttle. "_Cover your ears! I'm going to howl!_"

Meanwhile, Menori and Howard finally gained a calm region after some big waves shook them a "little". They rejoiced, but the haunting howl of a wolf reached them turning their attention to the rest of the group.

The two rowers blinked as Shingo indicated to look below them. They looked and screamed in fright as one of the big creatures passed under and shook the boat. It then emerged above them.

It was a snake-like creature coloured in black with a yellow underbelly of at least ten meters long with a very big maw, a fork-like extensible tongue and yellow peduncles eyes on the sides of its head. It shrilled as it opened its jaws.

Silver swore as Luna felt her heart beating loudly in fright for her two comrades. "_Damn it! It's either a flock of predators or they are aggressive animals protecting their territory. Or even both!_"

The creature rushed the raft when suddenly an emerald beam cut through between the shuttle and the snake-like monster. Under the astonished eyes of the children, the giant animal seemed to stop and sank beneath the waves, a smoking hole in the head.

Everybody turned to stare at Silver poised in an attack posture with his green eyes dimming after unleashing his twin eye-beam.

Unfortunately, there were others monsters emerging around the boat. Panicked, Howard drew his laser gun and blindly shot around him. The snakes were momentarily startled by the energy attacks and Menori quickly calculated that they were nearer the shuttle than the land. "Howard, let's go back!"

The snakes dived to escape the beams and the wave of their movement drenched the two children. Howard was trembling, still holding his gun.

"Howard!" The boy started and turned a panicked gaze to Menori. "We're going back, now!" The wide-eyed teenager nodded and they promptly rowed back to the shuttle.

Their comrades screamed their encouragements. The monsters followed underwater and Howard shot again blindly in the hope he scored a hit.

Shingo whirled to Silver. "They're coming back! Shoot! Shoot them, Silver!"

The wolf gritted his teeth. "_I can't. They're protected by the layer of water and I risk hitting Menori and Howard if I fire without a clear line of sight._"

Luna concentrated on the situation as she saw her comrades going back pursued by the creatures. "Everyone, get back inside the shuttle."

Sharla turned to her friend. "But Luna, what about you?"

"I'm going to help them get back. So you take shelter."

Bell gazed at her. "I'll help too."

Luna nodded. As the group retreated, she turned to Kaoru. "Kaoru, take care of Sharla and Shingo. The silent boy said nothing, but he nonetheless return to the shuttle to do what Luna asked. Luna walked near the edge of the wing and spoke to Silver. "Silver, please cover us until we're inside."

"_I will._" He immediately opened fire as a snake emerged behind the raft. The emerald beam cut through the dense leathery flesh like a hot knife on butter.

One of the wild shots of Howard grazed a monster which recoiled under the pain. It was temporary and the pursuit resumed.

The raft was almost reaching the shuttle when the creatures changed their tactics and attacked from below, denying a direct line of sight for Silver. Menori jumped out when she saw the jaws closing on the raft and Howard was ejected out by the shock of the collision.

Using the diversion brought by the creatures going wild on the raft, Menori swam to the shuttle. Howard emerged just under the nose of a snake who opened wide his maw.

The boy screamed as another emerald beam cut off the head. The convulsions of the dying creature encouraged him to follow the advice of Luna. "Howard! Howard! This way! This way!"

Bell and Luna caught an out-of-breath Menori and send the worn-out girl in the shelter of the shuttle.

Howard swam, but one creature reached him and its head emerged just behind the panicked teenager which doubled his effort to swim. Silver couldn't shot at such a short distance. The snake stayed too low from the water surface and Howard was just in front of the target.

Bell and Luna pulled out the frightened boy from the danger and the water. They quickly gained the roof hatch as the creatures began to circle around the shuttle and the rock mooring it.

Silver understood the manoeuvre. "_Damn it! They're going to ram the shuttle. Inside, quick!_"

The children jumped down the hatch and closed in-extremis the door. One snake impacted on the roof hatch sending tremors in the shuttle.

The giant creatures shrilled as they attacked a few times the hatch, but quickly abandoned when they saw that their preys have escaped inside a too solid lair.

The children regained their breath. This wasn't definitively Earth. Such creatures simply did not exist in the entire human history. Luna calmed a hysterical Sharla. Shingo then had the idea to get the shuttle loose from the reef and ride the waves to the shore.

Howard shook his head. "That's impossible without a crane!"

Luna turned to him. "If we don't try, we won't know."

The children decided to wait for the high tide and then try. The hours passed as Shingo surveyed the level of the water. The sun was hitting hard and would have transformed the shuttle into an oven without the presence of Silver.

Chako smiled to the wolf which was emitting a cooling mist from his mouth. "A good thing you're here. Without energy, we don't have any air conditioning."

Despite that, Howard wasn't rationing his water, refusing to listen to both Luna and Menori. Howard shrugged off their warning and, of course, carelessly threw his empty bottle.

When the time came, Luna exited the first and look around. "They don't seem to be here."

Silver followed the redheaded girl. "_Don't let this calm lure you. They're still there. It's just that they out of your sight and they didn't sense our moves yet._"

Luna bit her lower lip. "Anyway, let's do it." They all took position near the nose of the shuttle. "Ready, set… go!"

They pushed and pushed. Howard quickly stopped "This is impossible!"

Silver snarled at him, startling the boy. "_Silence. Keep your voice down._" The wolf was warily surveying the nearby snakes. He couldn't use his eye-beam to cut out a path since it would alert too quickly the monsters.

Bell decided to place himself directly near the nose. Silver crawled a little under the shuttle and prepare to lift a little the craft to help. The tall and gentle boy hid a tremendous strength for his age. The combined might worked and the shuttle began to slide off the rock.

Chako suddenly gave the alarm. "Crap! They noticed! Everyone, come back!"

Stupidly Howard drew again his gun to shot the monsters. This time for sure. The blond boy narrowly escaped with his life only because Kaoru hauled him to surety. Silver managed to kill another one before retreating inside the shuttle.

Enraged, the surviving creatures pounded on the shuttle, one tear out the front shutter. Silver jumped in front of everyone and shoot directly inside the open maw of the snake, killing it instantly.

The last creature hit repeatedly the roof hatch and finally broke it through. Not thinking, Howard pointed his laser gun. "That bastard…"

Menori whirled to him. "Stop! You'll puncture the hull!" At least, Silver was smart enough to wait for a position where his beams wouldn't hit something vital, like a comrade for example. Howard fired, almost hitting Menori in the face. The laser beam carved a line in the roof hull, not even touching the monster. Menori slapped Howard. "I told you to stop!"

"It's fine if I hit him!"

Silver narrowed his eyes at the stupid boy. "_Even through one of your comrades? Fool!_"

The snake managed to force its entry in the shuttle. "Damn you!" Howard pressed the trigger and nothing. "It's out of energy!" Too panicked and hardly skilled, Howard had depleted the sixty shots of the energy cell by firing wildly and blindly.

Still partially blocked at the hatch, the monster extended its forked tongue. Silver cut through the air with his front paw. The tongue was severed and the snake shrilled in pain and retreated. Everybody gazed on the bloody sharp claws glinting at the extremities of the paw.

However, since the snake was blocked, its movement cut loose the shuttle of the reef, lifting it vertically on its rear. Everybody grabbed on something to avoid sliding as the snake swallowed everything that came into its reach.

Sharla screamed as she let go, but Luna managed to catch her before she was in reach of the snapping jaws. Luna knew she couldn't last long. She saw an opening behind the snake and took it. Under the horrified eyes of Chako, she willingly let go and slid with Sharla behind the monster, reaching the rear hatch and closing it.

The creature hammered the hatch, bending it little by little. It couldn't resist for long and Bell took the initiative. He jumped down and forced the snake back.

Silver dived through the opening created. Bracing himself with his claws biting deeply in the space-age metal of the shuttle, he clamped down his jaws on the neck of the monster, drawing blood.

But despite using his powers to amplify his strength, Silver was still only a seventy pounds wolf against a multi-tons creature. The snake extended its tongue around the Lunar Wolf, choking him. Bell struggled with all his strength to free the noble beast from the strangling hold.

Kaoru advised the knife at the belt of Howard and seized it. The throw was true and hit the snake in the eye. It was too much: The monster used all its strength to trash around and freed itself from the trap of the shuttle, retreating under the water.

The children sighed in relief. It was finished for now. Luna also thanked Kaoru for his intervention and praised Silver for their defence.

Liberated from the reef, the shuttle floated on the sea and began to derive to the shore.

Warned by his martial instincts, Kaoru sounded the alarm. "Here it comes!"

Bruised, but still able to act, Silver jumped out from the hatch. The enraged giant sea snake was ramming the shuttle from underwater and threatened to capsize it. He turned to the group. "_Close the hatch! NOW!_"

Menori gritted her teeth. "Put the hatch back like it was!"

Luna whirled to her. "But…! Silver…!"

"We must trust in him!"

Bell snatched the downed hatch and forced it on the opening. Shingo caught a rope threw by Kaoru and jury-rigged the hinge to close the aperture.

Outside, Silver let loose a few eye-beams to force back the snake. He then gained a place near the propulsion system and opened his mouth. A blast of wind erupted from his jaws and pushed the shuttle with enough speed to reach the shallow water where the great mass of the sea snake prevented it to pursue.

Wearily and warily, the children stayed tense, listening to the exterior sounds and waiting for another attack. They jumped in fright when the silver-furred wolf appeared through the broken cockpit. "_It's okay, it's alright. He can't reach us now and we're near the shore._"

Indeed, the shuttle gently reached the beach and smoothly stopped to the joy of the group.

"We've landed!"

"What a relief!"

Menori turned to the wolf. "Where's that strange creature?"

"_It was a deep-sea predator. Its huge body prevented it to swim into the shallows._"

The group exited the shuttle and could note that their protector was right. Menori turned around and gazed at the land. Shingo also looked at the landscape. "Should we get out?"

Menori shook her head. They had an efficient defender. In fact, she suspected that Silver was a military and probably secret model of robotic pet. However, he was only one wolf. "We don't know what kind of dangerous creatures there may be on land either. We'll spend tonight in the shuttle."

Howard was dismayed. "What did you say? We're not getting out?"

"_No, we're not._" The Wolf of the Moon sniffed the evening air. "_I can smell an important animal presence and we're too worn out for exploration this late._"

Menori nodded. "Making sure we're not drawn out to see by the ebb tide is our first priority."

The group anchored their shuttle to a nearby tree with a rope. Lunar wipe out the sweat of her forehead and gasped in awe as she looked at the sunset.

Even Chako was awed. "That's a real pretty sunset!"

Shingo walked to the group who was admiring the view. "It's amazing! It's a real sunset."

"Oh yeah. "Said Chako. "It's everyone's first time seein' a real sunset."

Silver sat near the group. "_Well, not really. But, it's my first on this beautiful planet._"

The murmured comment drew many bewildered stares on the wolf. Where could he have already seen a sunset on the ocean? The only planet they knew, Earth, was no longer able to provide such a view.

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At the night fell, Silver provided a green light from his eyes, asking that they spared the mini-light's energy cell. The group assembled to make the point on the situation.

Menori exposed her directives. "We don't know if we'll be able to find food or water tomorrow. So think it over carefully before you eat your dinner."

Howard considered the emergency ration in his hand. "Bell, give me a little water."

Luna was scandalized. She remembered when Howard and his cronies bullied Bell to wash their gear at the Noble Family Soria Academy. "Howard!"

Chako nodded. "You don't hafta do that. It's his just desserts."

Howard was annoyed. "Shut it, you. What's the problem? I'm thirsty and I didn't save any."

Menori almost snorted. "Then you should have controlled yourself like I and Silver said." Howard mockingly shrugged it off.

Bell disarmed the situation. "It's okay. I'm not all that thirsty."

Howard smiled and arrogantly drank.

Silver shook his head. Karma was accumulating against the selfish boy. He didn't long to witness the payback. All the rest of the group was thinking along the same lines.

"_Actually, I can help a lot with water and probably food._"

Everybody listened to the wolf. "_The ice I can make come from the moisture in the air. Once melted, it is drinkable. For the food, well, I am a predator. I can hunt and if that giant sea snake was representative of the wildlife here, its blood told me they are comestible for human consumption. However, we must prepare for the worst and tomorrow we'll search for other sources of drinkable water and compatible food._"

After those encouraging words, the group slept inside the shuttle. A fog appeared as the dawn neared.

Silver was drawing on his power to prevent the need of sleep, food and water so that he could watch over the group. The sound of something heavy walking alerted him and he gazed into the night extending his senses to see what was going on.

Curiously, Luna roused from slumber from the same sound and the vibration that reached the shuttle through the soil. Kaoru was the third one alerted by the sounds that drew nearer.

Luna slowly walked to Silver and whispered to his ear. "What is this?"

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Notes: Well, not too bad I think.

Please review, thank you.


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